Pardon My Forward Behavior, But
by Kanna37
Summary: Sugimi is spending a great deal of time trying to figure out how to tell both his sons best friend Kagome that he wants her as his. Imagine his surprise when on the night of her graduation from high school, she confronts him with her feelings...


**Pardon My Forward Behavior, But...**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

~oOo~

Sugimi stood and clapped along with all the other parents and family members as the newest class of High School graduates threw their caps in the air and yelled as the ceremony came to an end.

His youngest son and his best friend, Kagome, had graduated this day, and it was a day that he had waited for with alacrity for three years, now.

Inuyasha had met Kagome when they were little more than toddlers, and the two were always together after that. The surprising thing about it, was after Kagome and Inuyasha had aged a bit, his other son, Sesshoumaru, who was slightly older, became her _other_ best friend. Sugimi was thrilled when the young girl managed to get the siblings to begin to get along, a feat which no one, not even expensive therapists, had been able to manage.

The three pretty much grew up together, going from her house to theirs with equal facility, and Sugimi had always been very fond of the open-hearted girl that lit up their rather lonely home with just a smile.

It had once been a warm and happy place - and then Inuyasha's mother had died, and things became so empty that he wasn't sure he and his sons would ever recover from it.

And then they had met Kagome, and even from the time she was no more than in her first year of school, his home had changed. Sugimi had happily taken the girl into his broken little family circle, letting her soothing presence heal him as much as it had his sons.

But then Kagome had turned sixteen... and suddenly things had changed. Because it was then that he began seeing her as something a whole lot different than just his sons best friend.

He'd been stunned, at first, when he realized that he wanted her, and for a time, had done his best to stay away from her by almost living at work. His sons berated him, not realizing what the problem was at first, only knowing that the girl they cared about was being hurt by their father's sudden seeming rejection.

It had been the only way he could keep control of himself, however, and so he stayed as far away as he could. He'd even tried going out with other women, tried taking them to his bed – but he couldn't. His body just refused to respond, and that's when he'd sat down with his head in his hands and thought his way through the whole thing.

He would have her. That was all there was to it. Somehow, she would become his. But he would wait. This wasn't the Sengoku Jidai when she would have been married off as soon as she'd started her feminine cycle. He wouldn't dishonor himself, her, or her family by taking her now. No, he would wait until she was an adult and graduated from high school.

Because she'd been born late in the year, she'd fallen behind everyone her same age, not being allowed to start school 'til the following year, which put her as older than everyone else but Inuyasha when she graduated – she was almost nineteen.

Now that the time had come, however, he had to figure out how to approach her. She had oddly never dated in high school, and when asked, had just shrugged and said that none of those boys interested her. He had no idea how she'd feel about a youkai so much older than her, _and_ her two best friends father, wanting her.

It was this that was on his mind later that night at the graduation party he'd thrown for his son and Kagome and all their friends. As everyone mingled and danced to the DJ's mix and flirted and talked of their futures, he sat back in a quiet little corner of one of the sitting rooms, and pondered on how to go about introducing her to his desire for her without her freaking out. Because a no was not an option – he wanted no other than her, and if she couldn't see her way clear to accepting him, he'd spend the rest of his long life alone.

Not something he could stand, as watching her live her life from afar and then die would kill him, too, he had to come up with something foolproof. Some perfect way to get her interested in him...

Lost in thought, he didn't notice the woman that entered the room and politely but firmly ushered the other people out of the room, nor did he notice when said room became even quieter than it had been, the silence broken only by the lock on the door clicking as it was engaged.

He did, however, notice quite well when the familiar figure of a little bright-eyed miko crawled into his lap and firmly tugged his head down to hers to kiss him.

Eyes wide, he'd been stunned for all of three seconds – and then his eyes had slid closed, he'd grabbed the girl, and dove into the kiss full-throttle, which caused a throaty little growl of approval from her to make his knees go weak. They stayed like that for a good little while, but finally, conscious thought caught back up with the daiyoukai and he pulled away from her to stare at her with rather confused eyes.

"Kagome," he began, before pausing to tilt his head bewilderedly at her, "what is all this, if I may ask?"

She shrugged, smiling up at him quite happily. "Well, I figured I might get old and gray waiting for _you_ to finally make a move, so I decided to do it myself."

He was shocked. "What?" he managed to choke out.

At that, she sighed and chuckled at him. "I've always wanted you. Ever since I was thirteen – that's why I never dated anyone. I didn't know what to do about it, though... especially when you started avoiding me. That hurt, and for a while I thought I'd be alone forever. But then Sesshoumaru sat me down and told me what it meant – you know, _why_ you were avoiding me, and then I decided that come graduation, I would corner you. And that's exactly what I've done, and here we are, and I'm quite, quite happy!" she grinned engagingly up at him. "I really hope you can pardon my forward behavior, but I just couldn't wait any more."

Stunned, Sugimi shook his head as he tried to take it all in. "But... what about Inuyasha and your mother and grandpa?" he asked. "_Surely_ you are worried about what they'll say, ne?"

"Nope," she giggled, amused at his astonishment. "My mom's known for years how I feel about you, and she told me that if I waited until I graduated, and still only wanted you, she wouldn't stop me from saying something to you about my feelings. And Inuyasha's always known, too. It bothered him a little to begin with, but after a while he just shrugged it off." She looked at him archly. "Any other worries?"

Shaking his head, he just stared at her for a few minutes, trying to take it all in. But as she wriggled in his lap, obviously trying to get comfortable, he gave up, throwing his confusion to the four winds and just accepting what the girl was telling him. It wasn't like he wanted to deny her, anyway – he was just so surprised that she'd hidden such feelings for him for so long without him even realizing... and then that she'd had the nerve to confront him with those feelings so calmly.

"Forward woman," he growled at her as he pulled her closer to him, enjoying the feel of her against him finally. He ran his fingers through her unbound, waist-length midnight tresses, greedily inhaling her sweet scent as it rose from the strands that he could swear were made from silk. He smiled as she giggled again at him through rosy, kiss-swollen lips, her blue eyes sparkling as she met his warm golden gaze. "Feeling quite sneaky, are you?" he asked.

"Oh, just a little," she replied, her mischievous look softening as she stared up at him. "But I couldn't just let you get away, you know. And according to Sesshoumaru, you've been trying to figure out how to approach me for a while, anyway – and now you don't have to. So... now that we're just sitting here, alone in a room with locked doors... what would you like to do?"

The last thing heard from that room for some time was the peal of happy laughter that came from a feminine throat as she landed on her back on the very soft sofa...

And a few moans and groans that the Taisho brothers would be nice enough not to mention to their father later. The two backed away from the door with chuckles on the part of one, and hearty, muffled laughter on the part of the other as they slipped back into the party still going strong in the rest of the huge house to enjoy the fun.

But none of those there had as much fun as the two in the sitting room, that's for sure.

~oOo~

A/N: A short little Papa/Kag AU oneshot. So many one shots show papa as some lecher with a penchant for young girls... so I wanted to write something that showed the other side... Papa's too honorable to be chasing after young girls. He'd wait til they were old enough.

Amber


End file.
